Note: This is Part 1 of the Two-Part New York City blog post. This one focuses on guidance to visiting New York City. Part 2 focuses on the experiences I had in New York City on my one-day visit.
After a couple of days in the Hudson Valley region, I ventured into the Big Apple: New York City. Within its five boroughs, New York City contains so much that no human being can experience all it has to offer. I had one day to walk about the city.
How does one even start to take a bite out of the Big Apple? Manhattan alone has Broadway theater, Central Park, Grand Central Station, Times Square, the High Line, Harlem, Greenwich Village, Soho, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, Wall Street, thousands of great eating spots and so much more. Some partake of the city for decades and still have much of it left to taste.
Be Strategic during your New York City Visit
First off, if you only have one day, you have to be strategic on where you plan to go. There are many great destinations in the city, but for example, Greenwich Village is 30 minutes away by subway to Harlem (though express trains can shorten that time). Those two locations are in the same borough, albeit on opposite ends of Manhattan.
It’s optimal to choose a specific destination and then plan to go to locations around that area. In my situation, I came in by train to Grand Central Station, walked about Central Park for a little bit, and then had lunch close to the park. This helps you to avoid walking too much, though be prepared to walk a lot anyway, as I discovered on my expedition into New York City.
Be Prepared to Order the “Walkabout Soup”
I planned to walk the High Line park and walk the Brooklyn Bridge. What I failed to realize beforehand is the High Line park’s spur entrance is far away from the southern end of the park. Like around 20 city blocks. The spur entrance at 30th Street and 10th Avenue starts near Madison Square Garden and ends at the Whitney Museum of American Art around Gansevoort Street and 10th Avenue.
As a result, I wandered around for a little while before finding the correct subway line to the Brooklyn Bridge. I walked through Greenwich Village, and walked back up to the 14th Street station. Then I got off at a less than optimal stop to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Basically, going to New York City means ordering walkabout soup. You’ll walk around A LOT more than other cities. The subway helps to reduce your steps some, but expect to elevate your step counts when visiting New York City.
Occasionally break blogger rules
(if you need to!)
After getting off at the wrong subway station, I was exhausted and needed a place to rest and recharge. I was so desperate that I broke a cardinal rule of bloggers who write about New York City–always go local for food and drink. I stopped at Starbucks because it was right next to the station I exited and just needed to rest.
I’m honestly okay with breaking that rule in this situation because my phone and body batteries had no energy left. Both needed a recharge. Make sure you take care of yourself as you walk around and drink plenty of water, especially in the summer.
If you have to break blogger rules to take care of yourself, that’s quite alright. But I am generally in agreement that you should go to local food places.
Later, I broke another rule–this time while walking the Brooklyn Bridge. Most Instagram influencers and bloggers take photos when no one is around. Honestly, I walked the bridge at probably the busiest time of the day. And I actually liked taking photos with actual people in it. I mean, it’s a PEDESTRIAN bridge.
I’ve worked in documentary film, and it’s weirder to have photos or video with no people in them. In fact, I was trained to keep an establishing shot recording especially when a car or person enters the frame. So all my pictures have people in them and I’m totally fine with that.
To me, when people are in pictures, the photos are more authentic and they capture the location’s essence better. Maybe I can stage a dance off with blog writers and decide who’s right. I’ll go with my way and simply be respectful as I do my picture-taking ventures.
I’m not kidding about those steps
So most phones nowadays have an app that tracks walking steps. Well, I discovered that on this one day trip to New York City, I took 23,702 steps!
That’s exceedingly higher than the vast majority of days for which I have records, but it’s not a record. I wrote previously that I set a new steps record, but I forgot that I walked 27,808 steps one day in January. It’s still a lot of steps, though!
I realize I have talked a lot about visiting New York City, but not much about the experiences I had on that trip. So I am creating another post focused on the small bites I tasted from the Big Apple.
In my next post, I will write in more detail about my own day adventures around New York City!